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Written by Victory!
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Monday, 06 October 2008 |
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RNC PROTESTS UPDATE Emoticón actual: ansioso/a There is a lot of info out about this, please don't stop your reading here. This derives from a letter I wrote to my sister and I realized I hadn't posted anything about it. So I revised it a little for posting here.
I'm struggling uphill to raise awareness about what happened at the RNC protests in St Paul. 8 organizers (protest/rally logistics coordinators) are being charged with terrorism. Journalists and medics that were arrested are being charged with felony rioting or felony inciting a riot, some of those include Democracy Now! Amy Goodman, an AP photographer, an EMT, and our own Portland Indymedia reporters Wendy and Alex, as well as Portland's Black Cross Health Collective(made up of naturopaths, EMTs, ER doctors/nurses, physicians, etc). The police were extremely brutal as always, but did little, if anything, to cover it up this time. The Republican National Convention made an agreement that they would cover all police brutality lawsuit expenses. The police publicly released documents that showed they intended to target support staff for the protests. They listed items such as video cameras, ipods, xbox(or other game systems), computers, cell phones, signs, printing supplies, and other media related equipment as contraband because they "could be used to harm an officer". A judge signed these documents. They started the raids and confiscation a week before the protests even started. The Twin Cities Indymedia center had the national guard positioned outside, plain as day, with live-ammo rifles and cameras pointing 24/7. Those of us in Portland(and other IMCs) had to do radio coverage and other roles that we could remotely, because of confiscations, arrests of media volunteers, and the lack of safety in St Paul. Alex, a Portland Indymedia volunteer, and Glass Bead Media are still there just trying to make a documentary and are still targeted with raids, intense surveillance, and brutality. In some of the raids(before the protests started) the police could not obtain a warrant so they destroyed the car(and towed it away) and property in front of the people. In one case they busted down the door and then got a warrant based on the fact that the broken door was now a fire code violation. The door was bolted shut and people not allowed to re enter until the door was fixed. All raids were at live-ammo gun point. Elderly, disabled, and children were not spared violence. Torture was used in the jails. Not even to gather info but just to see people suffer. At least one young person was gagged, a bag placed over his head, beaten to semi-consciousness, his feet bent backwards at the ankles, and his jaw slowly separated by the use of pain compliance pressure points. They had to take him to the hospital because he could not maintain consciousness or stop vomiting in his gag bag(which they refused to remove). In other cases police simulated anal rape by very forcefully jabbing batons into peoples' butt holes. A developmentally disabled man had his shoulder dislocated and he was beaten with batons until he couldn't breath for screaming from the pain. Then when they released him they drove him far outside of town and dropped him off. Others were sprayed and beaten repeatedly for asking for things like food, toilet paper, tampons, critical medications. One severely anemic woman almost died in custody because they denied her iron supplements and food. A hemophiliac with a large wound(who luckily was celled with an arrested EMT) from less lethal weapons was denied his medication for 36 hours, he would have bled to death if not for his cell mate. My friend(indy reporter) was forced to bleed(period) all over herself for over 24 hrs. Also her arm was fractured in a pain compliance hold. Amnesty International issued a statement that they demand an impartial investigation into the atrocities committed in St Paul. It's usually gotta be pretty bad to get their attention. Free Press International gathered 60,000 signatures in just a few hours for a petition to stop the atrocities(I don't know what it's up to now). The media blackout of these events has been quite thorough. One corporate media(Fox news) photographer was so outraged he quit his job and has now joined Indymedia. Even the more liberal outlets are silent. Even though Indymedia.org receives almost as many hits as cnn.com, Indymedia articles are not showing up in Google searches or are buried 30 or more pages in past obscure sites with low relevance. Also Youtube programs that have large followings(several of which have no activist affiliations) are alleging that their scoring is being tampered with to keep their RNC protest related footage off the front pages. A group of people even did large amounts of gutsy property destruction which usually causes a media feeding frenzy and gives the protests something newsworthy. But even that was blacked out beyond the local Minnesota news. Not sure exactly what's pulling the strings and causing this coordinated black out. But if media is quietly being so criminalized, it's really dangerous right now for media activists. 2 Portland Indymedia reporters are "under investigation" which is legal code for, we can raid you and do whatever we want to you or your affiliates in the name of investigating you. Portland has a long history of providing a lot of media equipment and personnel support to mass mobilizations. People also use Portland Indymedia to shed a lot of light on things the government would rather didn't reach so many people. Portland Indymedia(last I checked) is the 2nd or 3rd most popular site in the international Indymedia network. So the PDX IMC profile is high. Maybe that visibility will spare Portland IMCistas, maybe it won't. That about sums it up, but there's so much more than what I listed here. There are many benefits coming up to support the Portland people facing severe charges and to cover the massive expenses due to loss of equipment and hyper-inflated bail costs. Please don't let this disappear into obscurity. People have gone through hell to give voice to the people! For more info: http://portland.indymedia.org http://tc.indymedia.org http://www.indybay.org
To listen to the radio archives: http://portland.indymedia.org/en/static/pdxradio.shtml
Scroll down to:
"SPECIAL PROGRAMS AND STUDIO RECORDINGS
Event Coverage * Show from 09-04-2008 - RNC coverage 9-4-08 Bombs in the street oh my god * Show from 09-03-2008 - * Show from 09-02-2008 - 9/2/08 RNC coverage" |
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 18 November 2008 )
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The urgent need for Solidarity with Zapatista communities under attack |
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Written by UK Zapatista Network
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Sunday, 05 October 2008 |
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The Zapatista communities in resistance, with their autonomous schools, clinics and decision-making structures, have been an inspiration to the anti-capitalist movement. Now Zapatista villages and lands are sustaining increasingly violent attacks by the state and paramilitaries
Military harassment - the danger of confrontation.
In line with the increase in military operations and human rights violations throughout the country, the Mexican army is intensifying the systematic strategy of low intensity warfare it operates within the Zapatista zone. In many regions, the army operates daily patrols, with incursions into isolated indigenous communities by military vehicles carrying soldiers bearing high-calibre weapons, combined with helicopter overflights. These incursions represent deliberate provocation. For example, during May 2008, Mexican troops entered communities in at least four regions of Chiapas. One of these was San Jeronimo Tulija, where a convoy of eleven military trucks was accompanied by 300 Mexican Federal agents and state Preventive Police, while helicopters flew overhead. The troops surrounded the area, entered houses and uttered threats.
Capise is a San Cristobal-based NGO which monitors military and paramilitary activity in Chiapas. It reports that within the 56 permanent large military camps in the indigenous zone, 90% of the military troops are now composed of elite Special Forces, supported by and supporting six paramilitary groups sponsored by Juan Sabines, governor of Chiapas, and together representing "a comprehensive project against indigenous self-determination". |
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Oaxaca Documentary and Presentation in PDX |
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Written by Presentation by Simon Sedillo
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Saturday, 04 October 2008 |
Self Determination & Community Rights Defense In Oaxaca & Beyond
Present by: Simón Sedillo http://www.elenemigocomun. net/banda/simon
Portland State University Smith Center building Food For Thought Cafe (in basement) Oct 6th Mon 7pm
Admission is free but donations are needed and appreciated! Simón Sedillo is a community based human rights film-maker whose work has centered on placing skills, cameras and editing equipment in the hands of communities in resistance so that they may be able to document their own histories and human rights situation. Sedillo has spent the last 6 years documenting and teaching community based video documentation in indigenous communities in Oaxaca, in immigrant communities in the US, and with youth of color across the US.
Today Sedillo shares some experiences and perspective for international audiences in the US and Europe, on the local and global implications of the Oaxacan people's struggle. Through lectures, workshops, and screenings Sedillo helps open a powerful space for dialogue on the effects of neoliberalism on indigenous communities in Oaxaca, immigrant communities around the world, and communities of color in the US. Through collaborative media projects, Sedillo's work has contributed to a growing network of community based media activism whose primary objective is to share, teach, and learn from one another, about popular community based resistance and the collective construction of horizontal networks of popular power.
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 04 October 2008 )
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